American Apparel ad banned in U.K. for sexualizing youth

Every weekday, PR Daily associate editor Alan Pearcy highlights the day’s most compelling stories and amusing marginalia on the Web in this, #TheDailySpin.

Most parents fret over the sexualization of America’s youth in today’s media. And for good reason—just flip to TLC’s “Toddlers and Tiaras,” or look at almost any American Apparel print ad. In Great Britain, however, the government is confronting this issue. Recently, the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) admonished American Apparel for an ad it believes “inappropriately” sexualizes “a model who appears to be a child.” A spokesman for the clothing retailer contends that the model, who in the ad appears pantsless while curled up on an office chair wearing knee-highs and a sweater, was 23 when the photo was taken.

A controversial ad campaign is also being contested in Australia, where eatery Burger Urge is mailing condoms packaged with the tagline, “Get intimate with our new premium beef.” Despite complaints, the restaurant has found humorous support on Facebook, where users have left comments such as: "Udderly ridiculous! People who take issue with this promotion should moove on." No word yet on the age of said premium beef.

That’s OK—I’m celebrating Festivus this year anyway, and it appears I won’t be alone. Honoring the made-up “Seinfeld” holiday, Google rigged its search results so anyone looking up “festivus” encounters a seasonal surprise on the left side of the results page. (via Mashable)

Speaking of bad practice, amid the prayers and anguish that poured out over social media on Friday after reports surfaced of the tragic school shootings in Newton, Conn., Kmart landed in some hashtag hot water. The retailer, which was hosting a Twitter chat it called “#Fab15Toys” as news of the incident spread, ended the chat due to the circumstances, but not before it tweeted: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this terrible tragedy. #PrayforNewtown #CTShooting.” Unfortunately, it also included its promotional chat hashtag, The store defended its post in a message to Gawker, as well as tweeting:

#Fab15Toys was unintentionally used in conjunction with the CT tragedy. @kmart was ending a Twitter chat out of respect to the families.

While less damaging than an ill-conceived tweet, too much corporate jargon can hurt your reputation around the office. To protect yourself, I’d suggest you study this list of marketing buzzwords that AdPulp would love to see gone come 2013.